


A Helping Hand

by Fumm95



Category: Nightbound (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Let us get taken care of by our LIs PB!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 18:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19469218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fumm95/pseuds/Fumm95
Summary: While on the trek to Lamrian, an earlier injury causes a little detour.





	A Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> So in chapter 10, I think that was, if you don’t take the diamond option to summon the lake guardian or whatever, MC actually gets injured (a scratch on the forearm). And me being who I am, I thought it’d be fun to bring that up a little bit more, because beyond that one scene, it was generally ignored.
> 
> We'll just... ignore the fact that I think everyone changed clothes between the end of chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter 11, yeah? Something something, they didn't have time. :P

When Nik first suggested they travel to the sanctuary of Lord Elric, somehow, Silvia was expecting something more… elegant than traipsing through more wilderness. After all, he had been in attendance at Persephone, which should have implied some level of prestige, especially as an apparent member of fae peerage. But instead, there they were, abandoning the car and struggling through yet another murky, swampy forest, for who knew where.

Grimacing, she squinted at the dark shadow of Nik’s back, solid and certain before her, before stumbling over a loose rock. For a moment, she flailed, until Cal grabbed her arm, eyes concerned, and she _hissed_ , her knees nearly buckling under her.

“Silvia!”

She pulled away, waving her other hand at him through watering eyes as she pressed her arm against her stomach. “I—I’m fine. I…”

Before she could force something else through gritted teeth, he reached for her, a gentle hand gripping her shoulder. “You’re not. What…?”

Tentative fingers brushed her arm and she swallowed a sharp gasp, the world suddenly swimming around her. “Nik, Katherine, hold on a moment!”

“What’s wrong? Rook? Talk to me.”

Aaaand there was Nik, all gruff concern and short temper. She sighed, straightening as best she could and shrugging out of Cal’s grasp, or at least attempting to, to no avail. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

“Silvia? It’s your arm, isn’t it?”

Of course Vera had to get involved too. Even Katherine was watching her with worry instead of impatience, as if she were some sort of fragile damsel who would keel over at the slightest injury.

“And you didn’t say anything?” Nik appeared in front of her, so suddenly that she listed backwards, staying upright only through the support of the hand still clasping her shoulder. And judging from the way his mouth pressed together in that now-familiar scowl, it had not gone entirely unnoticed. “We could have at least stopped and taken care of it!”

She must have scowled; Cal squeezed her shoulder, his face apologetic but no less concerned. “He’s right, you know. You risk infection—”

“With what time? I’d rather have an infection and be alive than caught by that _thing_ and dead!”

“And you’ll be a hell of a lot quicker if we can get that thing treated.”

“You’re the one who said that we only had maybe an hour.” She set her shoulders, glaring at Cal until he released her, and moved to catch up with Katherine, gritting her teeth against the pounding heat seeming to radiate from her forearm. The shout of her name carried over her shoulder but she ignored it other than tossing her braid over her shoulder in an admittedly childish show of defiance.

Katherine’s lips twitched. “Perhaps you’re right…”

“See?” She grinned, triumphant, but before she could so much as turn, Katherine visibly smirked, nodding at someone behind her.

The next second, she found herself lifted bodily into the air and cradled against a warm, familiar, chest as Cal grinned down at her. “That’s fine. This works too.”

“Cal!” She smacked his chest, a gesture which produced as little result as hitting a boulder, and pushed against him, with equal success, meaning none. “Let me down!”

His arms only tightened as he continued moving, clearly taking care to avoid jostling her too much. It was a thoughtfulness that she appreciated… or at least that she would have appreciated were the situation entirely necessary in the first place.

Frowning, she turned her attention to Nik, only to find him wearing a smirk that were eerily similar to Katherine’s. Even Vera looked amused, a feat that, in any other circumstance, she might have appreciated.

Finally, she sighed, turning her gaze back to Cal, who was clearly fighting a chuckle of his own, though his gaze remained firmly forward. “Put me down, please?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Will you let us at least take care of that, then?”

Gritting her teeth, she nodded.

When he set her back on her feet, her legs nearly buckled beneath her and she mumbled under her breath as she forced herself upright, ignoring the concern warring with faint amusement on his face. Thankfully, he said nothing, instead only offering her a hand and guiding them to a fallen tree.

“Wha—?” But before she could finish, Cal was already kneeling at her side and carefully ripping strips from his shirt. “Your shirt, really? This isn’t some TV drama.”

He snorted, though he didn’t pause or look up from his careful examination of her arm. “Hush you, unless… Ryder, you wouldn’t happen to have a roll of gauze in one of those pockets of yours, would you?”

The man in question grimaced. “I figured we’d be traveling light to Chateau des Epoques.”

“Yeah, we’ll make do until we reach Lamrian. It’s all I can do to just clean this up anyway. Give me a sec…” In spite of herself, she flinched as he brushed a finger over the scratch, though somehow, she suspected it was less from the pain and more from the heat of his hand. Regardless, he tightened his other hand around her wrist, eyes apologetic. “I’m sorry, but this is going to sting a little.” He paused, looking up to give her a crooked smile. “Then again, I can’t say this is the worst I’ve seen either.”

She forced a grin in response, pointedly keeping her eyes fixed on his face, a task made considerably easier by his endearing look of concentration as he worked. It was a clear distraction tactic, but one that she appreciated nonetheless. “Oh?”

Even focused as he was, his expression softened, smile turning gentle, as it always did when his brother was involved. “Come on. You can’t possibly be surprised, considering what you’ve seen of Donny.”

In spite of, or perhaps causing, his soothing tone, his ministrations stung and she bit back a hiss with some difficulty. “Perhaps but… I can’t imagine getting attacked by zombies is common?”

He snorted. “You’d think not but I swear, if there was one in the area, he’d somehow find his way into it. Honestly, it’s a wonder we _didn’t_ run into him earlier.” Shaking his head, he raised his gaze, meeting hers with a smile that made her breath catch in her throat. “He’s almost as bad as you.”

She was halfway to returning his smile before her mind caught up. “Hey!” Laughing, she aimed a punch at his shoulder but he danced out of her reach with a teasing grin.

“Too slow.”

Without thinking, she leapt up to chase after him but before she could so much as take a step, Nik jumped between them, a hand outstretched.

“That’s enough, you two. It’s great that you’re feeling better but…” The rest of his sentence—whether or not they had forgotten about the bloodwraith that was still very much chasing after them—was left unsaid, but it was clear enough just based on his tone of voice and his pointedly raised eyebrow.

Trading a guilty look with Cal, she grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. We should… keep going.”

As Nik resumed their trek towards the mysterious Lamrian, she set off in pursuit, though, with warm fingers entwined with hers, a constant reminder that, bloodwraith or not, he would never let harm come to her. And in despite the pain, the exhaustion and the fear racing in the back of her mind, that was enough to keep her moving with a smile.


End file.
